Eighteen years ago, a much younger me (with less grey hair, and much more of it) did a Fitness Instructor qualification and began working in a gym for the princely sum of £5 an hour. At the time, I was under the impression that my courses were about gaining knowledge - learning about diet and exercises and that I'd then be able to go out into the world, tell people what to do and they’d get fitter and healthier as a result…

How naive and wrong I was!

Adults are essentially taller children. If you tell them what to do, they rebel just as much as their five-year old son or daughter would. Over the years I read everything I could about behaviour change, psychology and neuroscience, trying to understand how the brain works and I how could apply this knowledge to help people change. I came to the conclusion that my job was to let people choose their changes for themselves, so I started balance to coach them through this. I was convinced that my job was never to tell people what to do, just to be there to support them in making choices for themselves…

How naive and wrong I was!

What I’ve essentially discovered is that choice is hugely important to people and that any programme where you are told what to do will eventually fall down, but that providing people with too much choice can be overwhelming and leave them feeling paralysed…it’s all about finding the right balance. Here we’ll take a look at why choice can be both good and bad, and how you can use this knowledge in your quest for balance.

The bad

The amount of information we process in our brains each day has increased to unbelievable amounts in recent years, more than five times what it was just 30 years ago. Estimates put it at the equivalent of 174 newspapers every 24 hours…that’s a lot of reading! Comparing to computers (which of course, your brain is an extremely high-tech model of), it’s though we each process around 34 gigabytes of data a day. As a kid, my dad would have salivated at the thought of owning a device so powerful…which funnily enough, he did, it was just between his ears.

Right, that’s quite enough extra data for your brain to process, what’s my point? Even the highest quality computers begin to work more slowly when they’re overloaded with data. Have you ever gone shopping and been unable to choose between the 78 different breakfast cereals on offer, the 146 different loaves of bread, 24 different suntan lotions and 16 types of apples? It gets worse if you shop on the internet. Many a time I’ve tried to buy a new pair of trainers, book a hotel or a holiday and spent an hour or more trawling through comparison sites, links to special offers, Amazon, Google searches, eBay, villa listings and the myriad of other sites where choice is endless. All i often end up with is a headache. Back in the day, there’d be a handful of trainer brands and I could choose between black ones or white ones. With holidays, I’d go to a travel agents where they’d do the searching for me and narrow it down to about three for me to choose from. All this meant that my brain hurt a bit less.

It’s clear that choice can be bad. In fact, it can be paralysing. When you try to multi-task, your brain repeatedly switches between each of the things you’re trying to do; back and forth, back and forth, and each time it uses energy to achieve this, making it very tired. In much the same way, having to switch from option to option, trawling through page after page of 3-star hotels in central London, hoping to save £20 or get the nicest looking room and breakfast included, fatigues your brain and makes choosing seem much harder.

If you’ve watched Kirsty and Phil on Location, Location, Location, you’ll know what I mean; they’re often introduced to couples who’ve seen 50 houses or more but, as of yet still haven’t been able to pick one to live in. And if you’ve sat in a restaurant where the menu is so vast you don’t even know where to begin, pawing over it for some time before eventually choosing the dish you always have because it requires less thinking, you’ll know what I mean. Choice can be tiring and lead to inaction. It’s no coincidence that people who are stressed often talk of being unable to make decisions; their computer is full and no longer has the processing power.

It’s no wonder then that diet plans and exercise programmes that restrict choice are hugely popular, they save us having to make yet more choices about what exercise to do or what to eat for breakfast, mid-morning, lunch and dinner every single day. The problem is that one of the fundamental traits of being human is our innate desire to control our own destiny. And when we feel like the ability to choose has been taken away, we rebel. We don’t stick to the calorie-controlled diet, we don’t continue to cut out caffeine, alcohol, sugar or whatever else it is we’re not supposed to be having, and we don’t do the exercises our personal trainer told us to. We choose to take back control…isn’t that what the whole Br**it thing is about?

The good

As I’ve just mentioned, we don’t like to be shackled. We’re independent creatures and our desire for free will means we like to make our own choices. Choice is empowering and it also helps recognise that we know ourselves best and can often decide what’s in our best interests. Choice allows us to do things that fit with our values and beliefs, it allows us learn and to change things when they’re not working

The fact that each of us has our own unique genetic blueprint and our own mind creating unique thoughts every second of the day means that choice is a must. Because humans are all unique, programmes designed for the masses can never exactly fit our needs. I could no sooner write an exercise programme now that would work for 50 different people as I could walk to the moon for a nose around.

The balanced approach

So what takeaways are there from this very deep, philosophical wandering of mine?

1) Choice can be both helpful and unhelpful, so choose your choices wisely.

If you waste all of your brain power deciding what brand of couscous to buy in the supermarket, you’ll have very little left for making decisions like which mortgage to get, who to marry (if anyone) and the other big stuff!

Daniel Levitin, in his book The Organised Mind, suggests limiting less important choices to a set number of options, say three. Browse the stationery sections of three websites for a new diary and pick one from the selection that best suits your needs. It might not be perfect, but unless you design your own, it probably never will be, but it’ll save much needed energy for other big decisions and it’ll prevent you walking away with nothing.

In the context of health and fitness, you might weigh up two or three choices of gyms, footwear, trainers or apps and go for the one that seems right. The great thing is, if it’s not right, you can always choose to change your mind.

2) Delegate choices to others who can help

Joining Weight Watchers or hiring a PT is doing exactly this; you are choosing to pass on some of your choices to someone you trust. They can then provide you with the diet or exercise routine to follow so that you don’t have to make all of the choices. You have 34GB of data floating around your head so there’s no room to pick between the rower and the cross trainer or the myriad dinner options in the supermarket.

The growth of the meals delivered to your door industry is evidence of this delegation of choice; either you get something that’s ready to go, or you get all the ingredients and a recipe card, no need to think, just follow the instructions. If you love your exercise classes, you’re choosing to be told what to do, maybe because it just removes the stress of choice.

The key comes in point 1; take time to choose the best person or service that will meet your needs, that’s the most valuable choice. And hey, if you chose the wrong one, don’t be afraid to choose another.

I myself am using this knowledge to guide the structure of my latest book, working title ‘Think: How to achieve changes and make them last.’ In the past, I’d have left it completely open to you how you worked through it and that may well have left you overwhelmed by choice. This time around there’s a set, step-by-step structure to follow, allowing you to be guided through the process of change without having to make too many choices. The option to rebel and read it in a different order will of course always be there.

Weighing scales have been around for millennia (if you’re a geek like me you can read more about their history here). They’re probably the most used health measuring tool on planet Earth (and maybe other world’s too, who knows), and they’re responsible for their fair share of strong opinions, heated debates and full-blown arguments. Many swear by them, sometimes to the point of unhealthy obsession, whilst opponents, particularly from the modern-day fitness world, espouse throwing them out of the nearest window or banishing them to far-away lands.

I thought then that it was high time for a balanced view on the matter, so I’ve weighed in with this blog (couldn’t resist, sorry), dedicated to guiding you through whether you should use them at all, and if so, how often.

Weighing in weekly…or even daily

I’ll be the first to admit, for many years I would discourage my clients from this approach, rolling out the justifications we’ll review in a minute. I’ve mellowed in my old-age and those of you who’ve worked with me or been taught by me on a course will know that one of my favourite sayings is ‘it depends’. That said, I’ve never gone as far as thinking that weighing yourself daily was a good idea, especially as I once worked in a gym with a PT who weighed herself in ounces (something I thought was only reserved for the ingredients of Bake-Off contestants) and would be devastated at the tiniest changes.

Imagine my surprise then this week when, whilst researching for the next balance book/online offering (titled Think: Developing a mindset for lasting success, part 1 of The Art of Balance: How to be fit, healthy and happy), I came across a decent amount of research suggesting that weighing yourself daily might be highly effective. My flat world had just become round!!!

One study of 294 college students found that people weighing themselves daily lost significantly more weight over a 2-year period than those who weighed in daily. Another began with a single weight-loss seminar, after which, half of the 162 attendees were asked to weigh themselves daily, whilst the other half were offered no advice on weighing regularity. Over one year, the men asked to weigh daily lost significantly more than those who were not given advice on weighing frequency. There was no difference for the women though. In the second year of the study, the half originally not advised on weighing frequency were also asked to weigh-in daily and again the men in this group went on to lose significant amounts of weight whilst the women’s weight remained constant.

A review of a wide range of studies on the topic found that both daily and weekly weigh-ins were equally successful, regardless of the other features of the weight loss programme, and one study of over 11,000 participants in Israel discovered that when people visited their GP’s or dietician frequently for weigh-ins on a weight management programme, they were up to 13% more likely to lose a significant amount of weight, in this case at least 5% of their starting weight. This figure is commonly used in the medical world and is considered a decent marker of success.

Consider my eyes opened to new possibilities. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that Weight Watchers (now WW of course) and Slimming World had so much success built around their weekly weigh-in models. Regular weighing may of course not be right for everyone, so here’s some guidelines that might help you to decide if it’s right for you.

You need a disciplined structure to keep you on track. One of the other big reasons for the success of Slimming Clubs is the public weigh-in; it’s nice to get praise for success and equally it’s nice not to feel like you’ve failed in front of others. If you know this works for you, join a club or replicate it by weighing in with colleagues at work, family or friends. I was amazed by the successes on a weight-loss challenge I helped run for the Bank of Ireland a few years ago which contained a weekly weigh-in and a competition element, people like to win and hate losing (except weight of course).

You’re ok seeing progress in smaller chunks. You may have a goal of losing a few stone and daily or weekly weigh-ins will see you chipping away at this pretty slowly, sometimes not at all if weighing daily.

In fact, only weigh daily if you can always keep the big picture in mind, the long-term goal. Weight is affected by so many things; hydration levels, food in your stomach, whether you’e been to the loo or not, the menstrual cycle and more besides, that it’s highly unlikely you’ll see a consistent drop in weight. If you’re happy to look for trends over time but need that regular check to keep you on track, it can work for you.

You use other monitoring methods alongside it. For example, you might weigh-in daily but do a waist measurement every 1-2 weeks as well. You can also use other tape measure readings, clothing fit and body fat tests if you have access to them. Often if people perform exercise whilst attempting to lose weight, muscle mass increases and so can weight. That doesn’t mean you’ll end up big and bulky though; muscle is very dense and so you actually get firmer and smaller the majority of the time, which is what most people are after. Changes to size and muscle mass will definitely be gradual so performing them fortnightly or even monthly is better.

One of my favourite food psychology researchers, Brian Wansink, suggests that if you do weigh weekly, Wednesday is a good day to choose. Presumably that’s because it’s as far away from the weekend as possibly and you’re more likely to be in the middle of a more structured eating routine. If this isn’t the case for you, just be sure to pick a consistent time and day to make the measurement more consistent. First thing in the morning before food and after going to the loo is always good, and keep clothing consistent (or don’t wear any…unless the scale is on the gym floor)!

Do not weigh yourself daily or weekly if:

You’ve suffered from an eating disorder or body dysmorphia, suspect that you might do, or feel that doing so could become obsessive and negatively impact your mood.

You’re motivated by seeing bigger changes; some people like the fact that they’ve shifted 7-8 pounds as opposed to just one or two, bigger numbers might be better and if they are, weigh-in less frequently for a higher likelihood of success.

Weight is the only measure of progress you are tracking; it’s too easy to get disheartened with the frequent fluctuations caused by other factors.

If this is you, consider weighing less often and pay particular attention to the following essential points…

1) Choose a frequency of weighing that achieves the right balance for you; enough to keep you motivated but no so much that you get disappointed by slow progress or fluctuations from day-to-day

2) Use scales as just one tool in your armoury to track progress. On their own, they only tell a tiny part of the story. Use tape measures, clothing size and body fat percentage alongside these. That way, if your weight increases but you’ve lost fat and you’re smaller, you’ll know you’ve built lean muscle and you can stay happy and motivated

3) Remember to track the process too. Often we focus on the outcome, the weight or shape we want, and forget that it’s the things we do each day that will get us there. One of the three key tenets of the balance approach is ‘You are the sum of your most frequent recent behaviours.’ In other words, if you’re doing the right things, it will happen.

4) If you’ve had or have body issues or an eating disorder, always discuss options for tracking your progress and behaviours with your GP, counsellor or dietician in the first instance. They can help you to find a balanced approach that’s right for you.

Please do pop me a message or post on the balance Facebook page if you have questions about what you can do to track your progress, I’m always happy to help anyone find a little better balance.

This fella is definitely big and hairy. And it appears that maybe your goals should be too.

In their book about building habits that last, James Collins and Jerry Porras believe there’s a huge amount of benefit in setting powerful, bold, life-changing goals that take you outside of your comfort zone. It should be a clear, compelling goal that literally inspires you.

A famous example of one of their so-called BHAG’s (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) might be America’s desire to put the first person on the moon. Of course you don’t need to travel into outer space, but you do need something that’s equivalent to shooting for the stars.

Make sure your goals are HARD

You’ll be very familiar with the SMART acronym commonly used with goals, the A of which stands for Achievable. We’ve long been told to set goals that we know we can achieve, and whilst we need to believe we can do it, it appears there’s a lot to be said for being a dreamer.

Edwin Locke and Gary Latham conducted a review of years worth of research into goal-setting; indeed across the studies they looked at, 40,000 people had set goals of some kind. What they uncovered was that difficult goals consistently led to higher levels of performance in a wide range of settings, indeed they note that…

“the highest or most difficult goals produced the highest levels of effort and performance.”

It’s thought that setting tougher goals helps us to focus our mind on the task at hand, filtering out other things that may distract from the main target. They also act to energise us, increasing our drive to succeed, and they help us to develop persistence as they can’t be achieved overnight. Finally, they appear to make us use our brains more, increasing ingenuity.

You’ll know you’ve set yourself a HARD goal if it is:

Heartfelt: Do you have extremely important reasons for wanting to achieve your goal?

Animated: Can you picture yourself clearly having achieved the goal? What’s it like? What does it look, feel and sound like to you?

Required: Have you worked out clearly the tasks you need to do in order to achieve your goal? more on these shortly/

Difficult: Have you identified the knowledge and skills you need in order to make your goal a reality.

Focus on the process

Because BHAG’s can take time, focusing solely on the outcome can be demotivating as even if you’re making progress, it can still seem like a long way away.

This is where you need to mix your gigantic goal with more frequent stepping stones. Process goals are ones where you set yourself targets around what you’re going to do as opposed to what you want as a result. So for example, when NASA wanted to put Neil Armstrong on the moon, they had to set themselves hundreds if not thousands of smaller goals around things like rocket design, fuel to be used, coping with G-Force, designing a moon-landing craft and of course getting the astronauts home safely.

Process goals should be at the forefront of your mind at all times, giving you daily tasks to achieve to inch your way towards the dream. Make a list of all the things you need to do and then identify the very first one you need to do. Once done you move on to the next and so on. Think of it as project management; you’re moving one step at a time towards completing your mission.

If you didn’t get chance to read my blog earlier this week on quick wins, make sure you take a look at it here as there’s more on process goals to help you.

You may have seen my post on Facebook yesterday about that moment when you achieve something that wasn’t even on your to-do list, add it to your list and then tick it off straight away! It seems ridiculous doesn’t it, but there are powerful factors at play here that lead you to behave this way, and these things also heavily influence your approach to your health, fitness and wellbeing. Before we go on, here’s a link to the Daily Planner I took a picture of yesterday to use alongside my post, as there seemed to be a lot of love for it!

Ok, hands up, who clicked on the link straight away? Keep your hand up if you bought it. Why did you do that? Instant gratification. It’s highly powerful, addictive actually and it influences the fitness regimes you choose and your love for online shopping. Plus it was half-price so your brain loved it even more!!!!! Here’s what happens…

Your brain is hard-wired to look for quick wins and it loves stuff that’s shiny and new too. If you can get something done quickly, like buying an organiser with 1-click so that you feel like you’ll be more on top of your busy life, or you can lose four pounds in a day just by using the latest weight loss programme, a part of your brain known as the nucleus acumbens in your limbic system lights up. It’s the same part of the brain that lights up when you reach the next level on that addictive game, the same part that lights up when you tear open that chocolate bar and wolf it down in one go, the same part that lights up when a gambler wins a bet, the same part that lights up when a drug addict takes cocaine, and the same part that lights up during orgasm.

In any of these situations, you release a neurotransmitter called dopamine; often referred to as the ‘happy hormone’. Put simply, it makes you feel good, and boy do we like to feel good. Daniel Levitin, in his wonderful book The Organized Mind, notes the addictive nature of this response. He talks about gamers in China and South Korea who were so compelled to keep playing and receive their next dopamine hit, that they died having gamed non-stop for up to three days. He refers to this desire for a quick hit as hyper-immediacy and notes that it is an ever-increasing phenomenon in our technology-driven modern society.

Take your phone for example - the perfect place for quick wins. It lights up, beeps or plays a cheerful little jingle when you receive a text, email or any one of a raft of announcements. You often feel compelled to reply instantly to messages and you’re rewarded with a different sound when you do, the swooshing of that text zapping across cyberspace in an instant. And how do you feel? You feel like you’ve achieved something and so as a reward, your brain provides a nice little shot of dopamine. You get an even bigger rush when your clear your email inbox, you feel like you want to parade around the office holding your laptop aloft and throw an impromptu party.

This why tech can be so addictive. How many times do you check your phone to see if someone has liked or responded to your social media post? It’s the desire to send off that little rush of chemicals and make you feel good. And this desire for quick wins now pervades all aspects of society.

Take the email or text thing; do you get frustrated when someone doesn’t reply immediately? That wouldn’t happen in days gone by as the expectation that it was possible simply wasn’t there. Nobody posted a letter and expected a handwritten reply the very next day, nobody ran out to intercept the postman early in their rounds, wrestled them to the floor and tore open every envelop addressed to them in the desire for the response. They waited patiently; it probably took them a while to write it and get it sent off and so the same speed was often applied to reading the reply once it arrived.

Not today…compose message…send…stare at screen (hoping to see the little dots come up at the bottom to tell you the other person is reading it NOW…get frustrated if those dots disappear and the person hasn’t replied immediately). They may be trying to escape a burning building at the time, wrestle a bear escaped from the local zoo, be in the middle of a work meeting or making dinner for three kids, but that doesn’t matter to your limbic system, it wants that dopamine hit now!

What’s this got to do with your health and fitness?

Health and fitness goals are no different; you’re not daft, you know that what you want will probably take some time, but that’s not exciting for your brain as it doesn’t offer the instant gratification it has come to crave and expect.

So it’s no wonder we continuously fall for ‘9-day detoxes’, ‘lose 2-stone in a week bootcamps’ and ‘6-pack abs in 6 weeks’ articles in magazines. Those things light up your brain in the same way that your over-zealous neighbour lights up the entire street with a Christmas display to rival Blackpool illuminations.

You’re not daft, you’re not really fooled into thinking this is the solution I’ve been craving, but you can’t resist the gratification you’ll get from quick results. And for the PT industry, sometimes we struggle to understand why people continuously choose the path of least resistance. But why wouldn’t you choose quick and easy over the long road? It’s far more pleasurable after all and so when the quick fix falls by the wayside, you think, ‘I won’t do that again’ but then that 21-day detox comes along and your nucleus acumbens just can’t say no.

Don’t think that us PT’s don’t do it too; over the last few years there has been an explosion of fitness business gurus and online courses offering ‘6 easy steps to £100k a year’ or ‘earn what you want in just 8 hours a week’. And guess what, PT’s get lured in as their brain reacts like Charlie when staring through the window of the chocolate shop, tongue out, anticipating the instant pleasure from that Wonka Bar and the chance to get his hands on a golden ticket.

Becoming a ‘Haretoise’

Is there a more balanced approach, one that blends the addictive power of quick wins with something healthy that yields lasting results? I think there is, and here’s what I’d suggest.

Do you remember Aesop’s fable, The Tortoise and the Hare? Well then you know that the tortoise is content to take things slow and steady, aware she’ll get there in the end (in the spirit of modern times, I’ve made the tortoise female as she’s the sensible one who’s good at long-term planning). In the same way, you can use your inner tortoise to good effect. Identify the desire, the long-term or big goal - whatever it might be…losing a stone, dropping two trouser sizes, running a half marathon or lifting 100kg for the first time.

The problem with this of course, is that it’s going to take some time, and your nucleus acumbens isn’t going to stand for that, it wants satisfying much more urgently.

So you break the big desire down into smaller chunks. Why do you think Weight Watcher’s and Slimming world have been so successful? Because there’s a weekly weigh-in, a chance for gratification for your efforts every single week.

But even that’s too log these days, so you need to invoke your inner hare and ensure he’s getting quick wins every single day (yep the hare is a man, short-term thinking for instant gratification required). How can you do that? Here’s where you can use your behaviours to good effect. Most fitness and weight loss regimes focus solely on the outcomes; your brain lights up when it sees the scales tell you you’re lighter or you see your ab’s poking through when just a few weeks before it was more like Play-Doh. You can get the same sense of achievement by setting and achieving daily targets around behaviours, as long as you bring a few tricks into play:

Let’s use cutting down alcohol as an example. You set yourself the challenge of booze-free weekdays and you use the following tools to get that dopamine release you need to stay motivated and keep going towards your long-term desire (the boring health and weight-loss one that the tortoise is slowly plodding towards).

1) Record it visually - it might just be a piece of paper stuck to your fridge or desk that you can tick each day. You get a pleasure hit from the act of ticking it and even more when your family or colleagues see it too and give you praise or the odd high-five

2) Go high-tech - You might prefer to use an app, like the DrinkAware one, that allows you to set goals, track what you’re doing and gives you awards for achieving them. If you’ve ever used a Fitbit, you’ll know how addictive it can be to hit your steps and get the fireworks display on screen or receive a new badge for total distance covered or floors climbed. That’s because the same fireworks are happening inside your brain at that moment

3) Share goals and updates with a family member, friend or colleague - why do you think people post their latest run on social media or Strava became so popular? People like getting recognition; it keeps the hare happy with quick pleasure hits.

4) Check on the progress of your tortoise - much like Weight Watchers (sorry, WW as of recently), the progress check provides you with another source of feedback that can set off your happy chemicals and keep you on the path to success.

If you can strike the balance with the quick wins for the hare, whilst allowing the tortoise to move along gradually towards her big desire, you have a recipe that satisfies your brain and allows you to achieve lasting change.

Here’s a little more about one of the fantastic charities we’re supporting over the coming year, including a look at the work they do, their key priorities and how support from the balance family can help.

Bristol Animal Rescue Centre (Bristol A.R.C.) has been caring for Bristol’s lost, straying, injured and neglected animals for over 130 years from its Centre on Albert Road in Bristol. On average, the charity re-home around 500 dogs, cats, small animals and exotic pets each year. The 24/7 clinic cares for animals belonging to individuals facing financial hardship, animals brought in by RSPCA Inspectors who have been removed from situations of cruelty and neglect, wildlife, and injured and sick strays. The charity relies completely on donations from the community to keep its doors open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Their current work

Bristol A.R.C. is currently offering completely free microchipping to any cat in the Bristol area that is over 4 months of age to help ease the stray cat crisis in Bristol. In 2017, 352 stray cats arrived, and of these only 15% had microchips! As well as offering free chipping at their Clinic, the charity is also popping up in the community, offering free chipping close to people’s homes. The first two chipping clinics will be in Horfield and Knowle at the beginning of December.

How can you help?

As well as the work surrounding cat chipping, the charity is currently working towards reaching its Winter Appeal target for 2018: Heating Hearts Appeal. This appeal aims to raise enough money to heat the animal residences through the winter. The love from Animal Carers comes free, however heating does not and the charity needs support to help them pay for their rising heating bills. Donations can be made here: https://www.bristolarc.org.uk/get-involved/heating-hearts-this-winter/

It costs £19 per day to look after one of the many animals in their care and as mentioned earlier, they’re entirely funded by support from the public. There are so many ways that you can get involved with helping them to pay for this care…

We love our animals very much and hope you can help us to help Bristol Animal Rescue Centre keep doing its amazing work over the coming year, so that they can look after and re-home hundreds more creatures, great and small.

I’ve been doing lots of reading recently around the psychology of change; what it is that motivates us to do things differently. One thing that consistently comes up is competition.

I shared an article on a scientific study on this very subject this morning on the balance Facebook page. The authors of the study created an 11-week exercise programme and split the participants into either competitive or supported groups. Amazingly, those in the competition groups had a 90% higher attendance rate, a huge difference.

This got me thinking that maybe I could set you all some challenges each week where you could compete against yourself, or others if you wish. Here’s the first…

The Fruit & Veg Alphabet

Below are 26 fruits and vegetables, starting with every letter of the alphabet (I’ve had to be inventive with certain letters).

Your challenge for the week ahead is simple; see how many of these you can eat:

Apple

Banana

Carrot

Dates

Eggplant (American name for an aubergine)

Fennel

Grapes

Haricot beans (baked beans are allowed)

Iceberg lettuce

Jerusalem artichoke

Kiwi fruit

Leek

Mushroom

Nuts (yes, they are actually fruits!)

Olives

Peas

Quince

Raisins

Satsuma

Tomato

Ugli fruit

Vine leaves

Watermelon

Xingzi (I’m cheating here but this is a Chinese word for the apricot)

Yams

Zucchini (courgette)

Here’s how the scoring works:

0-7: There’s definitely room for improvement

8-14: You’re on the way to balance

15-20: You’ve balanced your week well

21 or more: You’re a master of balance

By getting as many of these fruits and vegetables into your diet as you can, you’re providing yourself with a wide range of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other brilliant nutrients. Hitting your 5-a-day might just reduce your risk of heart disease and strokes by as much as 20-25% compared to those eating less than 3 portions. That plus a review of the research into fruit and vegetable consumption found that those with higher intakes potentially decreased their risk of gut health problems, constipation, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and free radical damage to the blood vessels, osteoporosis, blood sugar imbalances, eye damage, respiratory disease, mental health problems and weight gain…pretty good stuff then!

I’ll be sharing my progress on Facebook across the week so please do join in and let us know how you’re getting on and share any hints and tips you have to get more fruit and veg into your diet.

As many of you know, last weekend was my marathon in Frankfurt and I was excited to be feeling fit and going for a PB. You might also know that it didn’t really go to plan, and I wondered if there were some lessons I could share that might be useful for you in your own quest for better health and fitness.

This isn’t a blog about running marathons necessarily, or even a blog about running. I thought I’d focus more on trying to perform at your very best, the important things to consider and what happens if it doesn’t quite work out this time around.

When you’re trying to achieve something, be that a race time, a new strength PB, a weight loss goal or even personal and life goals like running a business or learning a new skill, it’s unlikely that you’ll have success every time.

Often, we have lots of success in the early stages as we start out from a low level of skill or knowledge. With my marathons for example, last Sunday was my 6th and up until now, I’ve run a PB every time I’ve done one. Sometimes only by a matter of seconds or minutes, but the improvement has been gradual. As you reach the peak of your abilities though, it becomes less likely that you can simply get better every time you do something. You’re bound to have failures along the way.

At this point, you essentially have two options as far as I can tell:

1) Give up trying to get better

2) Review what went well (repeat this in future) and what didn’t go so well (change it next time).

If I think about the run last weekend, there were loads of good things about it; I had zero issues with uncomfortable chaffing which I’ve never achieved before, so I know my clothing, footwear and voluminous application of vaseline were right for me. I never felt hungry or thirsty which has always been a problem for me, so the plan regarding food and drink was good.

Even when I started to break physically, my mental state remained relaxed. I never became frustrated, I just kept my focus on one mile at a time (something I’ve never mastered as well before), blocking out the fact that there were more to come afterwards. This allowed me to re-evaluate every mile and meant that once I had broken, I was able to just relax, hobble on home and enjoy the music and the ridiculousness of marathons. I’d love to say I could enjoy the scenery, but apart from being flat and good for quick times, Frankfurt marathon is actually a bit dull in terms of spectacles. The skyscraper skyline is the main attraction, but the truth is that in marathons it’s often busy around you and looking up is not really an option, you have to do quite a lot of staring at the floor to ensure you don’t trip yourself or anyone else over.

My training went pretty much to plan, managing more than I’d done before and at faster speeds. Vicky’s expert planning also meant we were only a few hundred metres from the start so I could warm-up in the hotel gym beforehand and crawl back quickly afterwards (more Vicky’s wonderful organisation than mine but I credit myself for marrying her)!

So all in all, there were a lot of positives to take and that’s why I’m not disappointed. When something you’re trying to do goes wrong, list the positives from the experience. If you can frame it as learning rather than failure, it starts to feel useful.

Ultimately, I didn’t run the time I wanted and so, whilst it’s important for me to take the good stuff from the day, I also need to evaluate what stopped me getting what I wanted and do something about it for next time.

What was it? My issue lay in my biomechanics. By 12 miles, I was feeling tight in my left hip and lower back, by 14 miles this had stopped me being able to bend my left knee properly and not long after that, this led to my right hip and knee hurting a lot as they did more of the work. I believe the problem stems from the major injury I sustained when I was 18, tearing my right quadriceps off my leg completely. The muscle re-attached itself, half way up my leg and by the time I’d discovered exactly what had happened, I was told that surgery could likely cause more problems and I should learn to live with it.

I’ve spent the last 19 years feeling discomfort in my neck, back, hip and leg on the opposite side, essentially because the muscles of the left leg are longer and more of my weight shifts to that side. I never actually have a problem with the muscle I tore. Over the years, I’ve managed it pretty well and achieved some cool things fitness-wise, but running marathons has always seemed a bit too much for it to take; it’s always joint discomfort on this side that slows me down as opposed to fitness or fatigue. I think this time I was too optimistic that it would be ok; often I can manage it pretty well but a few weeks before the race my back locked up and I should have seen a masseuse or osteopath to release it. Better late than never though; I’ve spoken to an osteopath friend and I’ll see him ASAP, and I’m considering seeing a specialist to see if I can re-balance my stride through having some orthotics made.

The point here is that if you’re trying to achieve something and it goes wrong, you need to look for solutions. In performance terms, we’re only as strong as our weakest link, which in my case is my wonky leg. To be as fast as I want to be, I need to be less wonky! For health and weight loss, it’s about looking at the thing or things that are holding you back. It might be that you’ve improved consistently, but now you’ve stopped. What’s the next step that can take you to the next level?

Here’s where we have our choice; I could feel dejected, stop doing all the good things I’ve been working on and know for sure that I’ll never achieve my marathon goal, or I can persist, try to sort my mechanical issues and see if that’s the difference that makes the difference. The only thing that we can ever guarantee is that we give up, we won’t achieve what we set out to do; if we try again, keep the good bits, learn from the not so good and change things, maybe, just maybe, we might.

I will caveat this from a performance perspective by saying that you also need to listen to your body. There will come a time when the risk of pushing yourself to the max for a given event, carries more risks than benefits. I personally don’t think I’m there yet, but we’ll see how it goes once I’ve worked on my biomechanics.

You’ll also often spend the weeks following a race that didn’t go to plan considering doing another one straight away! I'll be honest, I’ve already looked at the marathon calendar to see if there’s something in November or December to try. From experience though, this is often a bad idea, especially after longer races. Your body is tired and a bit broken and it needs time to heal, especially if it was some sort of injury that stopped you reaching you goal. Let it go, regroup, rebuild, recover and then try again.

Remember…

1) Even when it hasn’t gone to plan, highlight the positives - what’s good that you should keep doing?

2) Change from a mindset of failure to one on learning - what can you alter for next time?

3) Persistence pays off - the only true way to achieve what you want is to keep going.

Technology is wonderful, but these days we have so much if it and use it so often, that occasionally it won’t work as well as we want it to. I can rarely go a week without some sort of issue with computer, phone, iPad or watch and it leaves me feeling like IT is s*IT. It also leaves me feeling frustrated, stressed and angry, so I thought I’d share with you a few ways that we can all manage our IT rage.

1) First of all, try not to do this.

It’s probably going to be a very costly way of getting your stress levels down.

2) What about swearing and shouting?

There are mixed theories on this. One side of the argument suggests that it’s better to let your anger out, but a lot of recent work suggests that it can in fact make anger a learned behaviour, the way you respond when something stressful happens. I’ll be honest, this was my common response when my laptop crashed or phone froze and I lost a big piece of work I’d been doing in the process. Hearing me go nuts at my computer however was not a very pleasant thing for Vicky to experience and so I’ve been working on some alternative solutions.

3) Walk away

If your computer has frozen or isn’t doing what it should, get up and make yourself a cup of tea (a good brew solves plenty of problems), do another task or even go for a short walk. Moderate exercise is great for stress management, especially if you get outside as it can burn off some of the excess adrenaline you’ve built up and being in natural surroundings is known to relax you and improve your mood. When you come back, the problem may or may not have resolved itself, but even if it hasn’t, you’ll find the urge to break the Laptop Shot-put world record may have subsided.

4) Re-boot

In a similar vein to walking away, shutting down and re-starting can have a positive effect. It’s the golden solution to many IT problems anyway, but it also just allows you a pause to calm down a little.

5) Plan ahead

One of the best things I’ve done to make IT failures less stressful is to put in place a series of back-ups to prevent it being a problem. This ranges from more technological solutions like storing back-ups of all files in the mysterious and ethereal ‘cloud’, changing settings to ensure documents are auto-saved as frequently as possible and can be restored and updating software more often, to more simple techniques like copying text from any post I’m about to make to Facebook in case it freezes and I lose it. Even if it does go wrong, it then doesn’t take much to recover or re-do what I was working on.

6) Try some progressive relaxation

Starting at your shoulders, tense them as much as you can for a couple of seconds, then breathe out slowly and focus on relaxing them as you do so. Work down your body, one muscle group at a time; spend a few minutes doing this and you’ll be feeling calmer in no time.

7) Laugh

Watch or listen to a few minutes of comedy; the hormones released can help to leave you feeling better already. Alternately, joke to a family member, friend or colleague about the situation, it may help to take the tension out of the situation.

8) Reframe

More than anything, what we can all probably do better these days is realise that more often that not it just isn’t the end of the world. We can re-do whatever we were working on, we can sometimes recover lost files and it often spurs us into doing something to prevent it happening again in future or trying a different approach. Frame it as learning rather than an annoyance and you may find it helpful instead.

If you didn’t see it, yesterday I posted a sneak preview of all of the events we have planned for next year. One of the things we pride ourselves on is taking you to see beautiful views, places that inspire awe and wonder. Sometimes, they’re miles from anywhere, but at others, they’re literally on your doorstep and you may pass them daily without giving them a second glance. We’ve got so much lined up for you, here’s a glimpse of what’s in store…

1) Castles and fortresses

We’ll cross Offa’s Dyke, the 50-mile long earthwork defence built by the Mercian king of the same name, at both its southern and central points, giving you amazing views and a good sense of how powerful his kingdom was over 1,200 years ago.

We’ll also pass fortresses and residences in various states of repair, from castellated stately homes like Cyfartha Castle in the valleys of Wales, to grand but well preserved ruins like those at Chepstow, towering above the Wye as it does, right through to those now clinging on to their few remaining stones like Montgomery and Newport Castles, but no less impressive for it.

Chepstow Castle’s grand entrance

2) Places of worship

As well as castles, you’ll get to see how religion has shaped our lands for centuries, from Wells cathedral, making the city the smallest in England, to neighbouring Glastonbury Tor, fabled for its connections to Arthurian and Grail legend. Have lunch next to Tintern Abbey, a once great and powerful monastery sitting on the banks of the Wye and many others besides.

The imposing ruins of Tintern Abbey,

3) Hills and mountains

Cheddar Gorge feels almost prehistoric with its steep-sided cliffs and forested sides; you still wouldn’t be surprised if you saw dinosaurs roaming as you pedal through, whilst Cranborne Chase with its chalky down hills lets you know for sure that you’re on England’s southern slopes. Further north you can enjoy the dramatic nature of the Brecons, passing alongside Pen y Fan, the highest point in southern Britain, or the even more imposing figure of Cadair Idris in Snowdonia National Park as you cycle the valley floor below alongside a dark and mysterious lake. Climb atop the Cambrian Mountains on a road so peaceful you’d almost think civilisation had ceased to exist, or back in England, enjoy the sharp, cragged rocks of the Stiperstones or the 360-degree views from the Long Mynd, both found in the Shropshire Hills.

About to descend the Cambrian Mountains, Snowdonia in the distance

4) Lakes and reservoirs

Chew Valley & Blagdon Lakes, both at the foot of the Mendip Hills Area of Natural Beauty kick us off on our first ride of the year, the former a peaceful spot where you can watch boats sailing as you enjoy fish and chips from the fashionable Salt & Malt restaurant, and there’s plenty more to come with Pontiscill and Talybont Reservoirs nestled between the high peaks of the Brecons, or my absolute favourite, the Elan Valley, a series of reservoirs in mid-Wales that have an almost ‘moon-scape’ feel at the top but that give way to Alpine-like descents along winding roads through thick forests.

The reservoirs of the Brecon Beacons

5. Rivers and seas

Follow the Wye Valley high above the river on our half-marathon walk and catch glimpses of the Severn Bridges beyond as the water makes its way out into the Severn Estuary, Bristol Channel and Atlantic Ocean beyond. You’ll also get the chance to ride at the very opposite end of the rivers Severn and Wye, through the mountains from which they first begin their journey and not far away ride alongside the picturesque Dyfi estuary looking out into St George’s Channel and the Irish Sea beyond. Enjoy the prehistoric feel of the The Avon Gorge from on high, not far from where one of the first dinosaurs on British soil was discovered, and follow it upstream through cities, villages, parks, meadows and forests, or join us as we cycle along the River Taff, the waterway that gave the Welsh people their overly used nickname.

Cycling the Dyfi estuary

6. Towns and cities

Pass through major places of heritage and history, from Bristol’s harbour-side, once the second most important port in the country after London, to Bath and its famous abbey and Roman spa, or smaller cities like Wells and Glastonbury, rich in history and the latter now a centre for free-thinkers due to its links with myths, legends and a certain music festival. At the other end of the scale, we experience smaller market towns like Brecon and Machynlleth, little fishing ports like Aberdovey, the village of Cheddar, a tourist-heaven famed for its caves and cheese, or Shaftesbury, which whilst sitting in the heart of southern England, has a famous cobbled hill once used by Hovis in an advert for their bread supposedly set in northern England. Even more bizarrely, the advert was directed by Ridley Scott!

7. Industrial heritage

Walk or ride along one of the many disused railway lines now converted for our leisure use and enjoy the escape from traffic and towns en route, or watch the old trains of the Talyllyn Steam Railway as we ride alongside. Pedal the Monmouth Canal with its ingenious lock systems and endless stone hump-back bridges, plus ride past the Cyfartha Ironworks and Goytre Wharf and marvel at their size and how they’ve changed from places of noise, fire, smog and dirt to green, peaceful ghost-like brickworks. On our walks get the chance to see Brunel’s most famous works including the Clifton Suspension Bridge, SS Great Britain and Temple Meads Railway Station, see the former Fry’s/Cadbury’s chocolate factory now converted for luxury retirement living, or marvel at the Palladian style of Pulteney Bridge, over 200 years old and built with grand shops running its full length on every side.

Clifton Suspension Bridge at dusk, still hugely important after 150 years

Hopefully you’ll join us for one or two of the days so that you can get to enjoy what Bristol, the south-west and the surrounding areas have to offer to help you find some balance.

A fantastic Horizon special this week saw Ella Al-Shamahi, a paleo-anthropologist, standup comic and excellent presenter, working alongside a team of scientists following former commando Aldo Kane, equipped with lean physique and fashionable strongman beard, as he spent ten days inside a nuclear bunker. With no phone or watch and no other way to tell the time, Aldo was observed on camera 24 hours a day to see how it affected his natural rhythms, almost like a Body Clock Big Brother.

They put him through various experiments to see how his internal clock deep within the hypothalamus in the brain (known as the biological clock or circadian rhythm) was impacted. Watch as Aldo struggles to guess the time (he’s out by around 2-3 hours generally) and his mental and physical state alters over the course of a week and a half underground. He’s a super-fit chap so there’s a funny bit when he says how hard the experiment is hitting him, so hard that he’s finding it tough to do even an hour’s training!

They show how there are generally three types of people according to the research:

25 per cent of us are ‘early birds’, better in the mornings and early to bed ideally

25 per cent of us are ‘night owls’, better lying in late and more alert in the evenings

50 per cent of us lie somewhere in between

They meet a range of experts and everyday folk to uncover ‘hacks’ you can use to live more in sync with your particular body clock, and be fitter, healthier and happier as a result. Now of course, I don’t call them hacks, they’re behaviours, things you may be able to add to your routines to make improvements. Here’s a selection of the behaviours they uncover. How many do you do? Is there one you could change to help you find a little better balance?

1) Eat bigger meals in the mornings and smaller meals if eating late in the evening. That’s because your digestive system is actually most active first thing and less active just before you go to bed.

2) Carry out tasks that require lots of brown power in the late morning. This is when we tend to excel at complex processes and thins needing logical thought.

3) Exercise late afternoon/early evening. This is when strength, power and reaction time tend to peak meaning you can perform at your very best.

4) Get outside as much as possible during the day. Exposure to natural light helps to sync your body clock and leads to better sleep. The light that we’re exposed to in cars, homes and workplaces, even with windows is hundreds of times lower and doesn’t have the same positive impact. Our balance events are a great opportunity to get out into nature and improve your sleep in the process of course! ;-)

5. In an ideal world, live by your clock. Today’s society doesn’t always allow for this, so if you can’t, read below for more helpful tips.

6. Whatever clock type you are or your daily routine, stick to the same sleep schedule ALL the time. Avoid lying in and catching up on sleep at weekends or days off as it throws your rhythm out again, find something that works and stick to it. Here are those tips I promised:

Night owls

If you can’t work to your rhythm and you struggle to get up in the mornings…

Get as much natural light as possible when you wake up. Get the curtains open, get outside, or make your commute active an active one.

Shut out/cut down on blue light after sunset. Body clock expert Professor Till gets people in the show wearing special orange sunglasses to do this, but if you don’t have access to these then avoiding tablets or phones after dark or switching them to night shift function can make a difference

Early birds

If you need more sleep but find yourself awake and alert early regardless of how little you’ve had…

Block out the morning light. Use eye masks or blackout curtains to make the room darker. This is especially good for nightshift workers who need to get some shuteye during the day.

Get as much light as possible in the late afternoon/early evening. This can help to synchronise your body clock to your new time schedule.

Similarly, if jet lag is a problem for you, when you fly east, get out into daylight as early in the morning as possible, whereas if you fly west, get natural light as late in the day as is possible.

Better balance

Remember as always, if you feel it would help you to make a change, do ONE thing only. Try it, don’t expect it to work every time straight away, be patient with it and you’ll get there.

Oh, and here’s the link to the show in iPlayer if you fancy watching it for yourself:

1) Your health, fitness and wellbeing is mostly influenced by your most frequent health behaviours; the things that you do day-in, day-out that affect you for better or worse. You can get a bit fitter and healthier in 7 days, even more so in 21 days and achieve even more in three months, but you also have to keep doing these things to stay that way, and that never changes. It is a lifelong quest, the ‘game’ of life if you like, and you have to learn to play in a way that works for you, one that’s sustainable and allows you to do more of the better things, more often, so that you feel good the majority of the time.

2) You have the absolute power to control these behaviours, and therefore to control your health, fitness and wellbeing. For some of you, there are absolutely things that impact your health and nothing you can do about them. The key is in accepting that some things are beyond your control and focusing on improving and expanding the bits that are. You’ve got to work with what you’ve got.

3) There is no failure, only feedback. Change is not the same for everyone. Sometimes making a change is quick and easy, at others it’s long and complicated. We will not always succeed in our attempts first time, second, or even third. We will however succeed eventually if we keep going. We definitely won’t if we give up. Even staying the same requires persistence; you might have a ‘bad’ week because of a holiday or a celebration, but that’s cool, it’s just about learning from it and as mentioned above, accepting it and moving on.

These are the three tenets of the new balance book and online challenges/games that I’m working on. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to share some of my thoughts around these with you in more depth; coping and behaviour change strategies that I use with clients to help them discover a mindset that makes the changes they want more likely.

Let’s start at a really important place; your ability to control your health, fitness and wellbeing. There’s this thing called Locus of Control; nope not locusts, they’re giant insects! It’s all about whether we feel we have control of something, giving us an ‘internal locus of control’ or if we feel it’s beyond us to manage right now, meaning it has an ‘external locus.

I’ve not lost the skills I developed in A-Level art! Luckily, with practice, I know I can get better so it’s in my control. ;-)

So, for example, health behaviours that have an internal locus of control for you might be:

• I can choose to swap an alcoholic drink in the evenings for a non-alcoholic choice; I know I can as I’ve done it before and it was easy

• I know I can walk or cycle into work as I have all the kit and there are showers and secure bike storage there

• I have an hour spare in the evenings where I could do a workout at home or go for a run.

Whereas things in your external locus of control right now might be:

• I have an ongoing medical condition; it’s genetic and some days it can leave me feeling too tired to do anything

• I have to get the kids to school in the mornings and then get to work so I know there’s no time for me to exercise there

• I don’t buy the food shopping so I can’t control what we have in the cupboards

The aim over time should be to increase the size of our internal locus of control, whilst reducing the external locus. If it helps to remember it, imagine you’re on ‘I’m a Celebrity’, slowly eating one Locust at a time so that you have more and more inside you. And if it doesn’t help, stop that thought right now.

This chap has increased the size of his internal locus of control, shrinking his external locus. No bugs were harmed during the process.

Is there anything that you said was within your control that you’re not doing to the best of your abilities right now? Could you go back to not drinking in the week or using that free hour to get on your exercise bike whilst you watch TV? If there’s a couple, just pick one to work on for now, the others can come later.

If you’re already nailing your Internal Locus bits, ask yourself,

‘could I do anything to gain more control over something on my External Locus list?’

It can be a very small thing; you may do some of the food shopping yourself, or even just sit with your partner and make the list together so you have more influence on what they bring home. If it seems hard to find something, think about the things you’re already controlling and see if any of the things you do there or the skills you possess that enable you to achieve these could be transferred across.

Control is confidence

You’ve chosen something. How does that feel already? It’s unlikely you’ve done it yet as you only chose it a few seconds ago, but still, you’ll often find it brings a sense of relaxation, a confidence that you can achieve things. This positive mindset also brings with it a sense of resilience, a change in thought-process, which means that even if you try and it doesn’t work first time, it’s not the end of the world, you’ll keep tweaking it and trying again until you get there. We’ll look more at the mindset of persistence very soon; it can be learned and it will help you achieve awesome stuff!

You can repeat this process at regular intervals; weekly is good, each time seeing if you can take charge of one more behaviour, increasing the size of your internal locus of control and bringing you step-by-step closer to better balance.

The mission

So the other day I posted on Facebook about my plans for balance. I’ve spent months thinking about what I want to get out of the business and why I do what I do. Business success in the traditional sense doesn’t really motivate me, I don’t want a huge company with loads of employees, and earning lots of money certainly isn’t my main driver. What I want to be able to do when I’m old(er) is look back on life and say ‘that was worthwhile, that was cool, I’m really proud that we did that’. And the thing that will allow me to do that is the reason I got into the health and fitness industry 16 years ago and never left - helping people.

When all of you, and hundreds of other complete strangers, rallied around to help us raise the huge amount of money needed to fly Chris home in just a matter of days the Christmas before last, it was a wonderful thing in what was the most awful time. It highlighted to me the fundamental goodness in people and I knew I wanted to create something that could help to do something similar for others. I also knew that exercise was the perfect vehicle through which to achieve this. You can’t fail to be inspired when watching something like the London Marathon on TV, when long after the professional athletes have finished and gone home, ordinary people continue to pour over the finish line in their charity t-shirts and fancy dress, smiles and tears of joy at what they’ve achieved and so often the knowledge that they’ve helped others in the process.

With all of this in mind I decided we needed a challenging, audacious goal to inspire us into big action…how about raising £1 million for charity I thought? I imagined sitting there in my chair in 40 years’ time, listening to ‘old-fashioned’ musical classics such as 2 become 1 by the Spice Girls and Livin’ La Vida Loca by pop-God Ricky Martin, telling the grandchildren about what we achieved. They won’t be interested of course, they’ll be too busy moaning about the rubbish music, but I have no doubt in my mind that it’ll feel like it was worth all of the effort.

The plan

My aim is to use all of the products and services we offer through balance to help raise money towards our target. We’ll be giving away some online programmes and simply ask if you like them that you consider donating, and we’ll be putting a percentage of our proceeds from paid online programmes and books towards the target too.

We’re also significantly scaling up our events, or ‘balanced days out and weekends’ as I prefer to call them. We’ve been running events for a few years now and we’ve had some amazing times cycling and running through stunning countryside with wonderful people. It’s been a pleasure socialising with and helping those of you who’ve joined us so far and it makes us really excited about the plan for next year.

All of this will come together to help three fantastic charities in the south-west of England for 2019. We’re finalising the details with them at present and we’ll provide lots of information about who they are, what they do and how your money can help them to help others imminently.

Celebratory meal after our 2016 Coast to Coast adventure.

The events

Throughout next year, we’ll have a series of shorter walks and runs (generally ranging from 4-10 miles) and bike rides (mostly between 20 and 50 miles) on offer. These will be free of charge; all we’ll ask is that you consider donating £5, or more if you wish, towards our charities. They’ll be relaxed and sociable affairs and we’ll be sure to mix them in with trips to some great places to eat and drink too! We’ll announce these at least three months in advance, more where possible and we’ll plan them around our bigger events so that they make for perfect training days.

For the big events, we’ll have:

Three cycling weekends - one that’s challenging but not too long or hilly, one tougher option for those who really want to test their limits, and an off-road weekend that allows you to escape completely or build your confidence on a bike

Two long walks - there’ll be a half-marathon distance and also a 20-miler so you can really step up your fitness

One long run - well, it’s a marathon actually so I think we can definitely call that long.

Here are seven things all of our events have in common, designed to make them truly unique, unforgettable experiences for you:

They’re friendly - We decided to purposely keep our events small, no more than 30 people on each so that they can be truly sociable. There are some great events out there but often I’ve turned up, done my thing and gone home without really interacting with anyone . We’ve designed ours so that you can spend time getting to know people you’ll have lots in common with and make new friends

They’re relaxed - there’s no rush, they’re not races and they’re not timed (though you can time yourself if you wish of course). We live in a fast-paced, stressful world and I know many people feel that chasing times in events can simply add to the stress. There are plenty of races out there so we chose to do something different, events to help escape the rat race and the stress of daily life, just enjoy being in the moment and find some balance.

They’re challenging - although they’re relaxed, that doesn’t mean they’re easy, and we know you wouldn’t want that of course. We make them challenging so that you can increase your fitness, look good and feel good, especially when you get that wonderful feeling that happens when you make it to the finish and receive your shiny balance medal.

All of our events are coded with one of our four colours to describe the level of challenge, green being the easiest then blue, pink and the toughest being orange. Most of our mini-events are green and blue so you can practice, build your fitness and confidence, then challenge yourself on the bigger ones.

They’re supported - the balance crew will support you every step of the way. And what a crew they are! They’ll act as guides, motivators, mechanics and coaches, encouraging, helping and advising when you need it. They have huge amounts of experience with big challenges so you can trust them to help you reach the finish line.

They’re tasty - the food and drink on our events are equally as important as the challenges; it is about balance after all. At our feed stops, rather than endless gloopy sports gels, you’ll find a range of tasty homemade treats like Vicky’s infamous banana loaf as well as healthy options to fuel your journey. We’ll also organise lunch stops in tea rooms, cafes or pubs and post-event there’s a mix of buffets or sit-down meals, and we’ll ensure we cater for your nutritional requirements so there’s something for everyone.

They’re breathtaking - and not because of the level of challenge, but because we only plan routes through stunningly beautiful countryside. The south-west of England is our home and we love it, so the vast majority of our events are run here or very nearby. We aim to take you to places that you may not have found, sometimes right out in the countryside but at others literally on your doorstep. I never fail to get a buzz as I watch the faces of those taking part in our events as they see the jaw-dropping views that I’ve planned into the route. There’s plenty of evidence that getting out into nature is good for your health too, so you’re improving your physical and mental health in the process.

They’re doing good - all of our events support the charities in some way. By joining us for a mini-event, all of your donations go straight to the charities to help them with their work, and we put a small amount from each big event towards the causes too. We also encourage you to raise money in the form of sponsorship for your challenge, but there’s no pressure to do so as we know how stressful it can be to hit fundraising targets and the charities we work with don’t have to pay in any way for the help we’re trying to provide. If you’d like to support our charities, we’d be extremely grateful.

Reached the top and it’s all downhill now! The beautiful views of mid-Wales this year.

The launch

The schedule for the 2019 events will be launched this month, along with information about all of the charities we’re supporting. Everything will be launched through the blog and newsletter, so if you want to make sure you’re first to receive it and you’ve not done so already, you can sign up to the newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/c5xSj1

In the last few weeks I’ve been working very hard on the upcoming balance book. There’s been a lot of planning, writing, editing, re-writing, researching and tea drinking. The structure is now complete start to finish and I’m busy filling in the bits of content.

I thought I’d share some of these bits with you as I go along, to give you a flavour of what the book is like and to offer you some useful help with your health, fitness and wellbeing. This first piece comes from the very start of the book as it has the potential to impact everything you do from setting goals to making changes. It’s all about your values; I hope you find it helpful.

Values - what’s important to you in life?

“Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.”

Brian Tracy

What is important to you in your life? What do you believe in? What guiding principles do you wish to live by? These might seem like strange questions to ask here, but they’re hugely important to the lifestyle changes that you are considering making. Why you might ask? Let’s take a look.

A former client of mine, Emily, wanted to lose a stone. We’d agree targets and actions but when we came to review her progress, she’d never achieve them, saying she just felt that she wasn’t the sort of person who could lose weight. This went on for a while, until in one of our sessions, she mentioned that she had a young daughter who’d suffered with an eating disorder, although she was now much better.

We discussed how the impact this had on her and she realised that she was worried that her losing weight might set her daughter off on the wrong path again. To Emily, her daughter was the most important thing in the world and she constantly worried about her. She realised that she was so concerned for her daughter that, whenever she was around, she would eat in order to try to encourage her to do the same.

We talked about how eating too much and being overweight could also be unhealthy, and she said that she would talk to her daughter about her weight-loss goals. As it turned out, her daughter wasn’t worried about it in the slightest and actively encouraged her mom to get fitter and healthier, which she duly achieved over the next few months. Emily’s strong family values had at first hindered her progress because she hadn’t found a way to reconcile them with her other health goals. Once she had, she was in the right place to achieve them.

What I saw with Emily was the she placed the thing most important to her at the top of her list. Her daughter was more important to her than her own health. And it’s the same for everyone; we all have things in our world that are vitally important to us. For some people, it’s family, for others it may be friendships, success, health, wealth, trust, adventure, compassion, or learning. The difficulty comes when we want to do something to improve our health, fitness or wellbeing, but we feel in our heads that this may in some way negatively impact on our values.

Not everyone places health high up their values list, nor should they. Your values are unique to you; they began forming at a very early age through life experiences and the influence of those close to you and changing them is hard. The great news is, you don’t have to change them, all you need to do if you want to get fitter and healthier is find a way to balance the changes you feel you should make with your values. For example, if relaxation is an important value for you and you currently smoke to help you relax when things are stressful at work, giving up smoking may not work unless you find an alternative way to unwind. Equally if career success to ensure you can look after those dear to you is your most important value, it can be hard to find time to fit exercise and healthy eating into your daily routine. Recognising that being fitter and healthier can help you achieve career success through increased energy, concentration and motivation is an important step, as is making changes that still allow you to work as hard as you feel is needed.

Interestingly, I know that my own values often cause challenges for me in a different way. I place being fit and healthy at the very top of the tree as I feel it helps me with everything else, but sometimes I’ll prioritise doing a workout over my tax return or getting more sleep over meeting a deadline. The key is to find the right balance.

What are your values?

Step 1: Check out the task in the link below, created by William Miller and colleagues. Miller, along with another colleague called Stephen Rollnick, created a form of coaching known as Motivational Interviewing which has been hugely successful in helping people to change, with a recent review of the scientific studies done on the topic stating that it ‘outperforms traditional advice giving in the treatment of a broad range of behavioural problems.

You can add any values that you feel are missing, or even skip the task and simply make a list of the things you feel are extremely important to you in your life.

Whichever way you do it, you should finish by selecting the FIVE most important values to you overall.

Step 2: Look at your five most important values. Might they in any way negatively impact your health, fitness and wellbeing?

Step 3: Do they positively impact your health, fitness and wellbeing at all?

Step 4: How might being fitter and healthier help you to live more in line with your values?

You should now have a good idea of what’s important to you and understand how these things might be both problematic and beneficial for your health, fitness and wellbeing. Being able to link any lifestyle changes back to your personal values can be a fantastic tool to motivate you to stick at them and maybe even make more changes in future.

The tradition of afternoon tea first began in the mid-19th century, when Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford found herself always hungry between her mid-day lunch and fashionably late dinners. She began to request sandwiches and cakes as a late afternoon snack and then started to invite friends to join her for this novel event. The idea spread through fashionable society, a new meal was born and its popularity has continued to grow to the present day.

In honour of this great British tradition, it's National Afternoon Tea week this week, so we thought we'd share a nice selection of recipes from the web to help you enjoy it to the full. Just remember to only do it once in a while; stopping work for an hour at 4pm every day for sandwiches, cakes, scones and tea probably isn't going to go down too well with your boss, and it'll likely be even worse for your waistline.

Tasty recipes

The ever wonderful Jamie Oliver has a host of recipes for afternoon tea here. Everything from cakes, buns, muffins and biscuits through to savoury treats like scotch eggs and breads.

This selection of recipes will leave you drooling, with a wide range of interesting ingredients, flavours and textures on offer to really mix up your diet.

If you know that yousometimes eat more than you need, here are some simple tips to help you control the size of your portions...

Portion it out first

A famous scientific study gave movie-goers a small or large portion of popcorn to enjoy whilst watching their film. Half of them received fresh popcorn whilst the other half received a bucket full of old, stale and bad tasting popcorn. What the researchers found was that both groups ate more when given the larger portion, even though those who ate the stale stuff found they didn't like it!

The message...as humans we're wired to eat what is there. Maybe it's something to do with our genetics when food was scare, maybe it's just that if we're distracted doing something else we continue to eat unconsciously. Whatever the reason, the message is clear; prepare your portions carefully. Rather than take the whole packet of nuts to work, pop some into Tupperware and leave the rest at home, rather than have the entire jumbo bag of crisps next to you on Friday evening, pour a few into a bowl. You'll often find your can't be bothered to get up to go and get some more.

Out of sight, out of mind

The food science expert, Brian Wansink, has carried out numerous studies on human behaviour and eating. He's noted that people tend to eat less chicken wings in a restaurant if the waiter leaves the plate of bones on the table rather than continuously taking them away, that if a bowl of soup keep refilling, people will continue to eat from it and that leaner individuals tend to sit facing away from an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Here are a few things you can try to put this research to good use:

• Put the treats away and make the fruit bowl clearly visible. Wansink notes that people will eat what they see, so having the biscuit tin on show continuously puts the idea of eating biscuits into your brain.

• If you've cooked too much, rather than put it on the table and tempt yourself into finishing it off, put it in some Tupperware and have it for lunch tomorrow or freeze it for a rainy night if you can

• Make it as difficult as possible to access those treats. Wrap them up, put them inside a box in another box, lock them away, whatever makes it a pain to actually go and get them

• Better still, choose your shopping carefully. It's been shown that on average, almost 75% of the food we eat comes from that which we have at home. That means if you don't have the worse choices there, you're much less likely to consume them.

Recognise the danger times and places

Lots of behavioural research in many different contexts shows that people who plan ahead tend to be more successful in what they're doing. The same is true in this instance; spend some time identifying when and where you're likely to go off the rails and build a plan to either avoid or cope with these situations. Planning prevents poor portion performance! ;-)

Use smaller plates

I've mentioned this one numerous times before but it's worth revisiting. The same amount of food on a smaller plate appears more filling to the eye, or brain I should say. It's known as the Delboeuf illusion and it really works.

This picture, from my book, The Complete Guide to Weight Loss, shows how a larger plate (the black bit), can make a portion of food (the blue bit), appear smaller and therefore less filling.

Remind yourself of your goals

People will work harder to achieve things that are more important to them. Firstly, make sure you've set yourself a goal that you REALLY want to achieve, one that has a powerful WHY behind it. Sometimes though, that's still not enough; life is busy and stressful and so it can be easy to be distracted from your targets and end up doing things you know won't help.

For this reason, it's important to do what you can to keep your goals and the powerful reasons for them at the forefront of your mind. Write or print them out and stick them on the fridge, on your desk, the dashboard of your car, or use a photo of them as your phone screensaver. It might make the difference in those moments of weakness.

I love jumping! It's a fundamental human movement and it's great fun, it leaves you feeling alive and it has a whole heap of benefits. Most of us stop doing it in adulthood, thinking that it's something kids do and that it's risky for bones and joints.

It doesn't have to be though; it can be part of most people's exercise routines as long as we warm up thoroughly, choose a level of difficulty that's right for you and do a sensible amount. They are tough though, and there are certain instances in which it's better not to do them, or at least take some time building up to low level ones first. Don't do them if you have a lower body injury at the moment, you have osteoporosis, arthritis or balance issues. Depending on your circumstances, there may well be variations you can try; speak to a physio beforehand for guidance or get in touch and I'll happily help.

Here are a few benefits of adding jumps into your exercise routines:

You'll improve performance of your fast-twitch muscle fibres, boosting speed and power in the process. Great for sports or if you just want to feel a bit younger again!

Training fast-twitch muscle fibres can also help with balance and coordination, decreasing the risk of falls and helping with everyday tasks like getting out of a chair, up off the floor or climbing stairs

It burns plenty of calories and helps to tone all the muscles of the legs and core

All you need is some form of solid step or ledge; the bottom step on a flight of stairs, the edge of the decking in the back garden, a step or bench in the local park, an exercise bench or a purpose-built jump box. Just check it's in good nick and won't move when you jump on it

It's great fun. You'll feel more alive and definitely put more of a spring in your step!!!

Here are two great exercises to get started with; the double-leg and single-leg jump.

1) Start as low as you need to. You can even begin without the step to get used to the movement.

2) Work on technique over height. Try to land as softly as a mouse and stand up completely upright once you've landed.

3) Warm up throughly before you do them. Spend at least ten minutes doing cardio and stretches until you're sweaty as the risk of injury is high when cold.

4) Do them at the start of your workout whilst you're fresh. As you tire, it's easy to lose technique so it's best to do them whilst you can perform at your very best.

5) No need for loads. 6 repetitions is plenty; if you're fit and experienced you might do 2-3 sets with a minute or so between each, but if starting out, just do it once. Add them into workouts once or twice a week when you haven't done anything too hard the day before.

Higher temperatures make getting a good night's sleep much tougher. Here are six steps you can take to snooze a little better through the warm nights...

1) Keep the curtains closed in the day

Blocking out sunlight can help keep room temperature down. Better still, invest in blackout curtains so that you'll also be able to block out light at night too. Any light source, no matter how small, can cause you body to produce hormones associated with alertness, leaving you wide awake.

2) Shower before bedtime

Use tepid water to help cool your body down. Sleep is a time when we move from the more active (higher temperatures) of the day to the more restful (lower temperatures) of rest and recovery. It'll also leave you feeling clean and comfortable and help you to relax.

3) Invest in a fan

High quality fans can be used to lower the room temperature, and provide a source of white noise, which is known to help you nod off. You can also place them by windows to push hot air out and even stick a pop bottle full of water in the freezer until it's a solid block of ice, then place in front of the fan to drive temperatures down.

4) Opt for less layers

That means bedding and clothes. As mentioned earlier, you want to be cool to sleep well. That high tog duvet you bought for the winter is no use on a balmy summer's night. Instead, use multiple thinner layers and strip off the ones you don't need for warmer nights. On the warmest nights, often just a sheet will do. The same with your PJ's, swap out those flannel trousers for something a bit more comfortable, or you can always go 'au naturel'.

5) Go low

Warm air rises so the nearer to the ground you are, the cooler you'll be. In his book 'Sleep: The myth of 8 hours, the power of naps and the new plan to recharge your body and mind', sleep coach to the world's sporting stars Nick Littlehales suggests that you don't even need a bed, just a comfortable mattress that fits your body's needs.

There's no need to throw the frame out just yet; simply consider using airbeds or bedding on the floor if you're really struggling on hotter nights.

6) Try sleeping outside

Summer is the perfect time of year to have a little adventure; go camping or simply sleep in the back garden with the kids for a little adventure. The air is fresher and you'll feel refreshed and recharged because you've re-synced your body with its natural rhythms of daylight and darkness. Just don't go for the 'au naturel' option suggested earlier unless you've got really high fences, or you may prevent your neighbours from sleeping for months!

Try just one of these to start with and hopefully you'll feel less like this...

I heard this week that the sun has been shining continuously for over 50 days here in the UK and us Brits struggle to cope with all those powerful rays, we're just not used to it.

If you're feeling a little hot under the collar, here are six great foods and drinks to help cool you down...

1) Gazpacho soup

Most of us associate soup with cold winter days, but not the Andalucians from Spain. Gazpacho is best served chilled and packs in plenty of nutrients whilst also helping to cub hunger with its high water content, which also helps to cool you down.

5) Spicy food

It may surprise you to learn that hot food and drink actually helps to cool you down. That's because the heat produced leads you to sweat and as the air catches the droplets, it cools you down. It's essentially your built in air conditioning system. Here's how it works with a hot drink like a tea.

This weekend sees the World Cup final, sadly without England, the finals of Wimbledon and the continuation of the Tour de France. You'll see men and women at the very pinnacle of their sports, performing at the highest level. It's not just physical ability that sets them apart; they're also mentally strong and have developed a range of psychological tools to help them stay focused, positive and calm when the pressure is on.

You might not want to be amongst the best athletes on the planet but you can still learn from them and use their techniques to help you achieve your health, fitness and wellbeing goals. So what exactly do they do that makes such a difference?

Chase your dreams

A study in the New England Journal of Medicine suggested that people who set themselves tougher goals were more likely to achieve them. The reason proposed is that tougher goals enable you to maintain higher motivation levels for longer. Don't just accept average, go after the dream.

Focus on the process

Whilst you might do better having a bigger goal to work towards, you then also need to be capable of focusing on the things you need to do to get there. Whilst Serena may say to herself that she wants to win Wimbledon, her first goal will be to get her first serve in. Mark Cavendish will set himself the target of being in bed early enough to ensure he gets enough rest ahead of tomorrow's stage, and we all know how Gareth Southgate got the England players thinking about their roles for every single set piece in the game. It's the repeated achievement of these smaller goals that makes the big one possible. For you it might be to have a healthy breakfast every day before leaving for work or making sure you've made your food and snacks for the next day the night before. It might be having your gym kit packed and having your lights out by 10:30 so you can be in the gym for 6:30.

"I was expecting a few more baby steps, but every time I go out there, I want to take a giant step forward, keep improving."

Serena Williams, on wanting to make small improvements after coming back from giving birth, but surprising herself by reaching the Wimbledon Final.

Chunk it down

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. If you think about the epic goal you're working towards, it can feel overwhelming. How many times do you hear sportspeople say 'we'll take it one game at a time.' It sounds a bit boring when they keep repeating it, but it's true and it's this fantastic ability to make it seem smaller that helps them through it. Marathon runners don't think about the whole 26.2 miles, they just focus on getting over the crest of the hill. You can focus on just eating healthily today; worry about tomorrow when it comes.

Show bouncebackability

Tennis players can be 0-40 down on their serve and fight back to win the game. Only the other day, Kevin Anderson came from two sets down against the mighty Roger Federer to win in five sets, taking the last one 13-11. He was only capable of this because he could forget what had gone and focus on the next point, and the next, then the next.

You can do the same if you choose something less healthy for lunch or if you miss a gym class. Does it matter? Not if you pick yourself up and get back to it. It matters if you let it matter and get yourself on that negative hamster wheel - 'I ate something bad, I feel rubbish, so I can't be bothered to go for my run tonight - and that makes me feel down so I'll have a few drinks.' Athletes don't let the wheel start to turn; they recognise that something hasn't gone well, forgive themselves, forget about it and go again. You can too.

Use the power of words and pictures

Top athletes are very good at using their mind to good effect. They can visualise the successful outcome they're after. Jess Ennis-Hill used to picture herself performing the precise technique she was looking for and Jonny Wilkinson famously used to repeat the same routine before every kick, picturing in his head the feeling of the ball as it struck his foot and watching it fly straight between the posts. You can practice seeing yourself lifting the weight you've been targeting, getting into the clothes you want to feel comfortable in again, or crossing the finish line in that race. When you do, really take yourself there; imagine what it looks like, the sounds you'd hear and the smells, tastes and feelings you'd experience.

They're also great at positive self-talk. Many clients have told me over the years how they struggle to manage the voice in their head, the one that tells them to eat the packet of biscuits in the cupboard or have some more of that cake in the office kitchen to celebrate Jennie's birthday. And why not? You won't achieve your goal anyway so it doesn't matter. Instead, use mantra's like the pro's. Gwen Jorgensen, two-time World Triathlon champion and Olympic gold medallist, says to herself 'These are not sacrifices, but investments. I truly believe they will pay me back ten-fold.' This could just as easily relate to dietary changes for a weight loss goal as it does to the hopes of a gold medal.

Distract yourself

What about when you're exercising? What do athletes do to get through the hard training? Many people assume that they enjoy it because they're so fit but that just isn't the case. They get so fit because they can endure the pain and tiredness required to reach that level. And that means they need ways to distract themselves when the going gets tough. Here are a few things you can try to get you through those tough workouts:

1) Think about the process - if you've gone for a run and you're struggling, focus on the actions of moving your arms and legs, the soft landing of your foot, relaxing your shoulders, standing tall. If you're lifting a weight, talk yourself through the key technique requirements as you do it

2) Breath - hopefully that's a given, but sometimes focusing on your breathing, especially when doing cardio, can make a real difference. Try to make your breaths slower than your movements. In turn it will slow your heart rate and make it feel easier

3) Count - you might use your watch on a run to do some calculations in your head. 'If it's taken me this long to get here, it'll take another 7 minutes til I reach the corner'. Alternatively, you can break things down into numbers - 'I'll just do another 15 minutes on the bike', or simply count your steps or pedal turns - 'I'll just do another 20' and so on.

4) Drift off - especially helpful in repetitive exercise that doesn't need to much concentration, make your shopping list, plan your holiday or one of mine and Vicky's favourites, think about what you'll have for dinner.

Any one of these techniques done regularly can help take you a step closer to your goals. Give one a try, and if it doesn't work for you, don't give up, simply try something else until it does.